Julia Dent of The Daily Caller interviews UNC-Wilmington professor Mike Adams about the latest developments in his long-running legal dispute with the university.

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington said it will appeal the ruling in favor of a lawsuit that alleged that the university denied a professor a promotion for his conservative views and tried to violate his freedom of speech.

The courts ordered UNCW to pay Mike Adams $50,000 in back pay, as well as his legal fees, which have added up to over $1 million over the seven-year lawsuit, according to WECT.

“It was expected that they were at least preparing for [an appeal],” Adams told The Daily Caller. “Star News said don’t appeal. Even the newspapers said this is enough. Even I was still a little bit surprised when they appealed, but this still could be a bluff. It would give the parties more time to reach an agreement or settle. This is just the way it works.”

State Sen. Thom Goolsby was disappointed in the decision to appeal and said, “Substantial taxpayer resources were already expended in this litigation, and an appeal would require substantially more.”

If they lose the appeal, they could take it to the Supreme Court. “What they’re setting up is if they fail to get another trial to prove that they didn’t violate my First Amendment right, they’ll take it to Supreme Court to prove that they didn’t violate my First Amendment right,” Adams said.

By taking it to the Supreme Court, they would also be challenging the Garcetti vs. Ceballos case in 2006 that ruled that government employees’ First Amendment rights are protected, Adams said. “[This appeal] shows that they haven’t learned anything from this experience. The longer this drags it plays to my advantage.”

“I don’t think this is about stupidity; it’s about malice. That’s the game.”